Interviewer: We're coming to you live from Stocktoberfest at City Winery here in New York City. And joining us this morning is Avery Marquez, director of investment strategies at Renaissance Capital. Avery, good morning. Great to have you here. Thank you so much for joining me.
Avery Marquez: Yeah, thank you.
Interviewer: Well, we are Kicking off Q4 2026 and it has been quite the year. So as we look ahead to the final quarter of this year and into 2027, give us your perspective on where we are when it comes to public listings and in particular anthropic.
Avery Marquez: Yeah, so coming out of Q2, I think we're on a pretty solid ground, um, and expected that to continue through Q3, um, and did see that at the beginning, definitely ended on kind of a sour note, uh, with those string of pulled listings. Um, but I do think that there is, um, positive signs. We've seen some silver linings, um, acceleration got done. I think that's kind of the Big one for us is having the string of postponements with a deal that still got done, um, still was able to find demand, um, definitely tells us that there is still base demand for new issues. Um, so, kind of on shifting sands, but, um, I think, yeah, with anthropic coming up, that'll tell us more about, uh, where investors are willing to put money in new issues, um, and if there is demand still for A listing of this size.
Interviewer: Yeah, absolutely, because heading into 2026 as SpaceX was going public, 2026 was expected to be the year of mega IPOs, and many retail investors out there were awaiting some of these key listings. But what are you seeing when it comes to the retail investor community and public listings?
Avery Marquez: Yeah, I think that retail can create some volatility. Um, sometimes that, that kind of trading is driven by hype and fear of missing out. Um, but we have seen, I think, record retail participation so far in 2026, um, definitely driven by those big names coming to market. Um, but I think those big names kind of Cause retail investors to pay more attention to the IPO market and see that there are a lot of companies that most investors have never heard of going public. Um, so I think, yeah, having more eyeballs on the IPO market with SpaceX with Anthropic with OpenAI, um, just lends to greater volume of trading from, from these, uh, traders.
Interviewer: Yeah, and I think perspective is key because when We're talking about public listing, a lot of the big names, whether we're talking about SpaceX or Anthropic OpenAI, those get a lot of attention, but there are also smaller companies that have been going public in 2026. So tell us about the macro landscape that companies out there that want to list are uh having to deal with right now.
Avery Marquez: So right now, uh, I think top of mind for the, for the, the companies trying to list are rates, uh, persistent inflation, um, things like, uh, the rising yields. Because those are going to weigh on cash flows for a lot of these growth companies. That's typically what the kind of companies that are going public are are very high growth. Um. And especially with the names that investors really heard of, the smaller ones, I think that's going to be even more pressing, um, but we have seen pockets of demand for, for certain spaces early in the year it was defense, um, kind of growing and still at the, at this point in the year we're seeing a lot of interest in biotech, um, so there are still, I, like I said, pockets of demand for, for new issues.
Interviewer: Mhm, yeah, and we just mentioned some key. Fundamentals that we're paying attention to. So whether we're talking about the regulatory landscape or even fiscal or monetary policy, these are things that companies that want to go public have to contend with. But of course one thing that came to mind is what we're seeing with the AICAPE spending as well as the buildout. So how is that affecting the IPO market?
Avery Marquez: Yeah, I mean this year we've definitely seen a lot of companies coming to market on those tailwinds, um, data centers specifically, um, and the companies helping to build out that physical infrastructure for AI, um, so I think, yeah, that's definitely been a driver of deal flow. Um, I think we've said that 2026 is going to be the year of the mega IPO and the year that funded the AI infrastructure buildout. Um, so definitely, uh, uh, a, a key theme that we've seen, uh, this year.
Interviewer: Yeah, and finally, before I let you go, I do want to get your perspective on the outlook as we head into your end as well as 2027.
Avery Marquez: Yeah, I think Q4 will be, uh, kind of testing the waters. We're going to see, um, you know, if, if there's demand for anthropic, um, and if anything can kind of squeeze in the calendar around that. Q4 is typically difficult because we are coming into the Thanksgiving holiday and then the Christmas holiday. So it can be slower as we get towards year end, um, but I think if we lay, uh, if we see the IPO market lay a strong Strong, uh, groundwork, um, through the, uh, through October and the beginning of November, um, and we see returns hold up that could lay a strong foundation for 2027, but I think it will all depend on, on what we see happen in Q4
Interviewer: and very quickly, are there other names aside from anthropic that you're paying attention to?
Avery Marquez: I think, of course, OpenAI, uh, we're definitely watching for that in 2027. Um, but beyond that, um, things in the, in the data center area, uh, day one just filed, that's another big data center name. Um, we're also looking at things in, in the consumer space that inspire brands, um, and, uh, I think more biotechs, but those are, I think, too small and too many to name.
Interviewer: Well, Avery, I appreciate your time. Thank you so much for joining us here at Stocktoberfest in New York City. Appreciate your time.
Avery Marquez: Yeah, thank you for having me. Thank you.
